LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Congressman Walden must help! We are being held hostage by a small faction of the extreme right and their followers! (I have faith that he is too sane to be one of them.)

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Posted Oct. 12, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Updated Oct 12, 2013 at 3:30 AM

Posted Oct. 12, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Updated Oct 12, 2013 at 3:30 AM

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Congressman Walden must help! We are being held hostage by a small faction of the extreme right and their followers! (I have faith that he is too sane to be one of them.)

I hope he will impress upon his fellow Republicans that the American people will not forgive them for tearing down our country by refusing to pay our bills. They have accomplished what terrorists foreign and domestic have been trying to do for years (an al-Qaida wet dream): shut down the government of the United States! How vulnerable does he think this makes us? If a terror organization wanted to strike at us what better time than when our government has been taken down from within? If they did launch an attack, would that make the entire House majority accessories?

Walden must give up this war on President Obama and the ACA, vote to pay the bills and practice statesmanship for the good of our people. We will not forget, nor will we forgive that you have allowed the tea party extremists to lead the GOP away from solid moderate service to the American people. He should pass this on to his fellows. — Lin Scarrow, Gold Hill

I don't know about you, but when I look around our neighborhoods I see potholes, deteriorating bridges and growing classroom sizes.

And yet, right now, Congress is playing politics with the budget and shutting down important government services for those in need. Surprisingly, there are simple solutions.

Pentagon largesse has for too long gone unchecked under the guise of national security. Experts agree that Pentagon boondoggles worth billions like the troubled F-35 can be cut with no effect on American safety.

It's time for my senators and my representative to stop kowtowing to lobbyists and special interests and pass a budget that represents our values of taking care of our community infrastructure, our children and those in need. — Casey Schnaible, Medford

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first phase of its fifth assessment report, skeptics are repeating their standard misinformation and distortions attempting to discredit the report. Their distortions do not undermine the settled science: global warming is real and human fossil fuel emissions are the main factor.

Deniers are trying to make much of the surface temperature lull, but even a strong former climate skeptic like Richard A. Muller of Berkeley agrees that this is "a pause, not an end to warming" and that it "is consistent with historic temperature variability" (New York Times, Sept. 26). Nor is the probability that global warming has been slowed by heat absorption in the oceans the quirky idea Morin implies; it is well accepted.

I read with interest the tweet our president sent a few minutes after midnight. The exact quote was " 'The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. You can't shut it down.' — President Obama"

Can anyone remember a more arrogant statement coming from any of our prior presidents? President Obama thinks of his office as above the law, above the Constitution and above the power of the people of the United States.

Any law can be shut down, by the courts, the representatives or the people changing their leaders. It seems to me the U.S. Supreme Court declared this "law" a tax. If it is a tax, where did this law originate? In the House, Senate or in the Oval Office? Can next November come soon enough to replace the arrogance of this administration and its cohorts in the Senate led by Senator Reid?

The winds of change are beginning and a hurricane is not far off. Yes, Mr. President, we can shut it down.

The power may feel like it is in your hands, but the people will not stand for usurping power which belongs to them. — Alan Ludwick, Shady Cove

The House Republicans, including our "representative," Greg Walden, are behaving like the bomb-throwing anarchists and terrorists they profess to hate. In fact, closing down most of the federal government will prove to be far more costly to our nation than all the terrorist incidents since 9/11/01.

We are still digging out of the Great Recession, brought on by lack of regulation of banks "too large to fail" due to the policies of the Bush administration. Our government should be "priming the pump" of the economy with more public works projects and help for homeowners faced with foreclosure. Instead, the House's action will take billions in federal employees' paychecks out of the economy and cause untold other disruptions.

If the House Republicans want to fight Obamacare, let them do it when the Health and Human Services Department and Medicaid budgets come to the floor.

Call Walden today at (202) 225-6730 and urge him to drop his opposition to the Senate version of the budget continuing resolution and to promise to vote to raise the debt limit when that issue comes to before the House. Tell him, if he doesn't, you'll consider him an unpatriotic anarchist of the worst stripe. — Allen Hallmark, Talent

We just witnessed the spectacle of a group of U.S. congressmen as they emerged from the room in which they discussed whether or not to shut down the government — their government — our government.

They were sent to represent us as best they could in the halls of Congress. It is not unusual for a representative to differ from some of his/her constituents. By the very nature of our political system, it is a given. My representative does that with almost every vote he casts.

But this time — this time it was different and I want to know why. No, it was not that he broke his party line and finally switched to the right side of history. It was the attitude that was different — it was the laughter of the emerging group. Where had I seen it before? It seemed so familiar. It was uncannily eerie. It was just like what we witnessed after 9/11 on the streets of Baghdad, and Tehran, and, Islamabad, and Kabul. Only worse.

These guys were our guys — on our payroll — these were the ones who took a sacred oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic — and it was just one big joke. — Seymour Collins, Ashland

On Sept. 21, Crater Lake Ford hosted the Wounded Warrior Family Support High Five Tour Shelby Mustang Super Snake. Rogue Mustangs and Classic Fords car club members assisted with car signatures with a $5 donation. A sum of $1,280 was collected and was forwarded to the WWFS organization to help our wounded warriors family needs.

Thank you RMCF drivers for delivering the Shelby to Medford on time despite the tight schedule and weather. Thank you RMCF ladies for ensuring all attendees got to sign the Shelby. Thank you to each of you.